Metal gasket

ABSTRACT

A metal gasket includes embossments that exhibit essentially full functional recovery and full retained internal stress at temperatures up to about 1000° F. which is made from sheet material that is cold rolled and whose embossments are work hardened without any post embossment heat treating that would act to harden the material. This material may also receive a precipitation hardening heat treatment prior to being embossed. The gasket materials include alloys having greater than about 18% Ni, greater than about 14% Cr, from about 0.1 to 10% of at least one of Mo, Ti, V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta or Cu and the balance Fe with incidental impurities, which are cold rolled without any post embossment heat treating that would act to harden the material.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This divisional patent application claims priority to US ProvisionalPatent Application Ser. No. 60/894,078 filed Mar. 9, 2007, and U.S.Utility patent application Ser. No. 12/045215, filed Mar. 10, 2008 whichare both incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

This invention relates generally to metal gaskets. More particularly, itrelates to embossed metal gaskets made from high temperature alloys.Even more particularly, to embossed metal gaskets made from hightemperature iron-nickel-chromium alloys operative at temperatures up toabout 1000° F.

2. Related Art

It is well known to use embossed metal for moderate to high temperaturegaskets of internal combustion engines, including both gasoline anddiesel fueled engines. For example, 301 stainless steel gaskets fullyhardened by cold reduction (301 FH SS) perform acceptably up to about800° F., but loses its strength at temperatures above about 1000° F.where the embossments take a heat set and fail to fully recover to theiroperational sealing state in use, thereby losing their ability toeffectively seal a joint. However, even at operating temperatures below1000° F., the performance of 301 FH SS and other stainless steels suchas 309 FH CR and 316Ti diminishes proportionately with increasingtemperature, from room temperature up to about 1000° F., and generallyat an increasing rate above 800° F., as illustrated in FIG. 3 whichillustrates the recovered embossment height as a function oftemperature. This stress relaxation is important because this gradualdecrease in the properties, even at moderate temperatures from about230-550° F., for a given gasket design may cause the gasket loading tobe reduced to the point that sealing is compromised. Frequently, such adecrease in properties is addressed in the gasket design by theincorporation of additional gasket layers to obtain the required gasketheight and sealing properties. This temperature effect and limitation ofgaskets that are subject to it is exacerbated in sealing applicationswhere the joint to be sealed experiences large thermal or dynamicmechanical movement, such as in joints that are exposed to vibration,particularly those which also experience large temperature variations.This is frequently the case in many joints where a flanged member isattached to a mating joint member, particularly another flanged jointmember. In sealing applications associated with internal combustionengines, examples include joints for certain head gasket configurations,exhaust downpipe clamps, intake manifolds and turbocharger intercoolers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a cost effective solution to the problemof providing a commercially suitable material for moderate to hightemperature embossed metal gasket applications up to operatingtemperatures of about 1000° F.

In one aspect of the invention, a metal gasket is provided that includesembossments that exhibit essentially full functional recovery andretained stress at operating temperatures up to about 1000° F. and whichis made from metal sheet material that is cold-rolled and whoseembossments are work hardened and at full operational strength withoutany post embossment heat treating that would act to harden the material.

According to another aspect of the invention, the gaskets are made ofprecipitation hardenable iron-nickel-chromium alloys which are firsthardened through cold rolling, precipitation hardened by a precipitationhardening heat treatment and then embossed to form and work harden theembossments, after which there is no post-embossment heat treatment thatwould act to harden the material.

According to a further aspect of the invention, any iron-nickel-chromiumalloy that responds to the cold roll/work harden embossment processingwithout post-embossment heat treating that would act to further hardenthe material is contemplated for use in making a gasket of this type.

According to a further aspect of the invention, any alloy that respondsto cold roll work hardening followed by coil form precipitationhardening and then embossment processing without post-embossment heattreating that would act to further harden the material is contemplatedfor use in making a gasket of this type.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a gasket sheet having atleast one embossed sealing bead made from an alloy including, byweight: >18% Ni, >14% Chrome; 0.1-10% of at least one element selectedfrom the group consisting of Mo, Ti, V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta and Cu; and thebalance substantially Fe with the gasket sheet having a deformed workhardened microstructure is contemplated for use as a gasket of theinvention,

According to a further aspect of the invention, a gasket sheet having atleast one embossed sealing bead made from an iron-nickel-chromium alloyincluding, by weight: 18-28% Ni; 18-23% Cr; 0-8% Mo; 0-1.5% Cu; 0-1% Si;0-3% Mn; 0-0.6% Ti; 0-0.6% Al; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.03% P; 0-0.4%N; and the balance substantially Fe, is contemplated for use as a gasketof the invention.

According to a further aspect of the invention, a gasket sheet havingiron-nickel-chromium alloy which includes, by weight: 24-55% Ni;13.5-21% Cr; 1-3.3% Mo; 0-0.15% Cu; 0-1% Si; 0-2% Mn; 0.65-2.3% Ti;0-0.8% Al; 0-0.5% V; 0.001-0.01% B; 0-1% Co; 0-5.5% of the sum of Nb orTa; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.015% P; and the balance substantially Feis contemplated for use as a gasket of the invention.

According to a further aspect of the invention, the invention includes amethod of making an embossed metal gasket including the steps of:forming an annealed sheet of an iron-nickel-chromium alloy; deformingsaid annealed sheet to form a deformed sheet having a deformedmicrostructure; and forming a gasket from said deformed sheet having atleast one embossed sealing bead, said embossed sealing bead sealablyoperable with substantially full functional recovery and retained stressin a fully-clamped sealed joint at a temperature up to about 1000° F.

According to a further aspect of the invention, iron-nickel-chromiumalloy gasket sheets of the invention may be coated with a heat resistantcoating. The heat resistant coating may include chemically exfoliatedvermiculite, a high temperature organic resin, a supplementary inorganicresin and a flaky filler.

According to another aspect of the invention, the embossments mayinclude full embossments or partial embossments, including at least halfembossments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the present invention willbecome more readily appreciated when considered in connection with thefollowing detailed description and appended drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a graph of the recovered embossed height as a function oftemperature for several prior art metal gasket alloys subjected to aclamp test;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a gasket constructed according to one exemplaryembodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross-sectional view of a portion ofthe gasket of FIG. 2 in a joint.

FIG. 4 is a graph of the recovered embossed height as a function oftemperature for several alloys of the invention subjected to a clamptest;

FIG. 5 is a graph of the recovered embossed height as a function oftemperature for several alloys of the invention subjected to a constantload clamp test;

FIG. 6 is a photomicrograph of the microstructure of a cross-sectionalsample of a gasket sheet of the invention taken at a magnification of200x; and

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of the method of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate single layer a metal gasket 10 constructedaccording to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Bothsingle and multi-layer embossed metal gaskets are contemplated and areto be included within the scope of the invention. The embossments mayinclude full height embossments or partial height embossments, includingat least half height embossments

The gasket 10 includes at least one metal layer 12. The layer 12 isfabricated of metal sheet material that has been stamped or otherwiseformed to include at least one fluid conveying opening 14. However, aswill readily be appreciated, gasket 10 may include any number of fluidconveying openings, and many embodiments will include a plurality ofsuch openings. The layer 12 may also include additional openings 16 toreceive fasteners or other clamping devices (not shown) which may beused to clamp the gasket 10 between a first member 20 and a secondmember 22, such as an exhaust manifold (not shown) and an engine block(not shown) to be sealed by the gasket 10 thereby forming a sealedjoint. First joint member 20 and second joint member 22 and gasket 10are shown in FIG. 3 in an unclamped state with the components in theirrespective locations just prior to clamping.

The at least one metal layer 12 may be fabricated from a suitableiron-nickel-chromium alloy, including certain precipitation hardenablealloys. The metal sheet material of the selected iron-nickel-chromiumalloy is cold rolled to work harden the material in order to develop atensile strength in the range of at least 1000 MPa measured at roomtemperature and an elongation that is as large as possible and at least5%, and more particularly 5-25%, and even more particularly 5-10%, andmost particularly 6-9%. The metal sheet material must have sufficientductility and elongation to permit a desired gasket form to be excisedfrom a sheet or roll and processed to form the necessary openings andembossments as described herein, or vice versa, by various combinationsof rolling, stamping, pressing and other known processing methods forforming embossed gaskets without cracking the material and while alsoimparting sufficient tensile strength to function as a gasket andmaintain adequate strength at high temperatures up to about 1000° F. sothat it continues to provide a seal to the joint in which it isinstalled under high temperature operating conditions. When the metalsheet material comprises precipitation hardenable iron-nickel-chromiumalloy, the material may also be precipitation hardened following coldrolling to further enhance the high temperature properties of the gasket10 using a suitable precipitation hardening heat treatment.

Following cold rolling and any precipitation hardening heat treatment,the sheet material can be blanked into gaskets to form the variousopenings mentioned above. During the blanking operation, or in aseparate operation either before or after blanking, the blanks can beembossed to produce at least one seal embossment or bead 18 surroundingat least one of the openings 14. The embossment 18 may be a fullembossment, typically a circular arc or other curved portion, or a halfembossment where a portion of the surface of the sheet is raised withrespect to other portions, typically through the use of a series ofcomplementary radii or circular arcs or other curved portions. Thisembossment 18 comprises a spring member incorporated into the gasketsheet which applies a force against the surface of the respective jointmembers 20,22 sufficient to seal a fluid opening. The cold work anddeformation imparted during the embossment step does not add anysignificant additional strength to the metal sheet in the portionthereof which includes embossment 18, although the invention does notpreclude deformation sufficient to provide additional mechanicalstrength to the sheet material, particularly in the region proximate theembossment, in this step. Gaskets 10 made from the preferred cold-rollediron-nickel-chromium alloy materials will have sealing beads 18 that,when clamped under operational loads at operational temperatures up toabout 1000° F. for the operational life of the gasket will maintainresiliency sufficient to provide an adequate sealing stress on thesurfaces of the sealed joint so as to maintain an adequate seal. Thisaspect of the gaskets 10 of the present invention can be tested byclamping the gasket under operating conditions for an extended period oftime under temperature, joint load, environmental and other conditionsrepresentative of what the gasket 10 would see for a given engineapplication over the life of the gasket, or the conditions required tomeet engine qualification standards, and namely temperatures up to about1000° F. In particular, they will not experience an unacceptablereduction in recovered gasket height when exposed to operatingconditions below about 1000° F. In many cases they will exhibit littleor no appreciable reduction in the recovered gasket height as shown bythe alloys illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5, but will in any case have arecovered gasket height greater than 0.0025 inches under these operatingconditions, particularly when tested as described herein. Thisimprovement in recovered gasket height is indicative that these alloyshave greater amounts of retained stress, essentially full retainedstress, in the gasket, particularly the embossments, due to improvedcreep resistance characteristics in this temperature regime than isobtainable in prior art gasket materials, including 301 FH , 309 FH CRand 316Ti stainless steels.

The recovered gasket height can be tested by clamping the gasket underoperating conditions, including thermal cycling, for an extended periodof time representative of what the gasket would see for a given engineapplication over the life of the gasket or under conditions are requiredto meet engine qualification standards, and namely temperatures up toabout 1000° F. An embossed gasket loaded under these conditions shouldmaintain its ability to seal at the embossments throughout the expectedlife of the gasket. Those skilled in the art of hot gasket design,development, manufacture and testing will appreciate that there may be anumber of methods and apparatuses to measure bead set, with all havingin common the desire to test whether a gasket is able to survive undergiven conditions without failure, such as by taking a heat set such thatthe gasket either does not maintain or recover to its original embossedheight, or loses strength such that when clamped it does not develop asufficient load to seal the desired fluid conveying passageway. The testitself is not important, but rather the ability of the gasket to performunder real operating conditions where the gasket will see temperaturesup to about 1000° F. One test that is suitable involves preparing a testwasher of a suitable cold rolled metal sheet material having an openingand a full embossment, representative of embossment or sealing bead 18,surrounding the opening. The washer has an OD of 2.75 inches, and ID of1.75 inches and a material thickness, T, of about 0.010 inches. Thestarting bead height is 1.5T, or 0.015 inches above the top surface ofthe body of the metal layer. The washer is clamped between two 1 inchthick platens with a grade 5 bolt under a joint load of 1000 PLI (Poundsper Linear Inch) and then heated at a temperature representative of anengine operating temperature for 17 hours, removed and the height of thebead above body remeasured. It is an accepted industry standard that aminimum recovered bead height of 0.0025 inches over the top surface ofthe body is acceptable to maintain an adequate seal for the life of thegasket at the measured test temperature, and corresponds to anessentially full functional or operational recovery of the bead andessentially full retained stress in the gasket, particularly theembossments. At a minimum these alloy all retained greater stress thanprior art gasket alloys from room temperature up to about 1000° F. Testwashers of the types described above made of the four alloysprecipitation hardenable high temperature alloys shown in Table 1 belowwere tested at temperatures of 800° F., 1000° F., 1400° F., 1500° F. and1600° F. as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 and were all found to fall within theacceptable standard of bead recovery, with the final bead height of allsamples being at least 0.0025 inches over body. In particular, theyexhibited no unacceptable decrease in recovered height and essentiallyfull retained stress for operating temperatures under 1000° F., incontrast to the prior art alloys shown in FIG. 1.

It is believed that some of the suitable iron-nickel-chromium alloys ofthe invention which may be precipitation hardenable may also benefitfrom a combination of cold working and precipitation hardening. As such,the invention contemplates that after the cold rolling step, the sheetmaterial may also be given a precipitation hardening heat treatment incoil form to develop the desired strength and elongation propertiesmentioned. Those skilled in the art of material selection and heattreating will understand without undue experimentation or inventionthat, depending upon the particular composition of the alloy and thedesired end properties to be achieved, a precipitation hardening heattreat cycle can be carried out to achieve the desired end result. Forexample, some of the precipitation hardenable alloys contemplated by thepresent invention and described in more detail below may benefit from aprecipitation hardening heat treat cycle following cold rolling,generally at temperatures above 1000° F. for about 8-15 hrs. Suitableprecipitation hardenable alloy compositions are high nickel, highchromium alloys with additions to facilitate precipitation hardening,such as are also described further herein.

TABLE 1 Alloy 301 FH (comparative) Alloy A Alloy B Alloy C Alloy DElement wt % wt % wt % wt % wt % C 0.03-0.15 0.08 mx 0.020 mx  0.08 mx0.08 mx Mn 2.00 mx 1.00 mx 3.00 mx 2.00 mx 0.35 mx S 0.030 mx  0.015 mx 0.01 mx 0.015 mx  P 0.045 mx  0.03 mx 0.015 mx  Si 1.00 mx 1.00 mx 0.05mx 1.00 mx 0.35 mx Cr 16.00-18.00 18-22 20.5-23.0  13.5-16.0017.00-21.00 Ni 6.00-8.00 18-22 26.0-28.0 24.00-27.00  50.00-55.00* Mo0.80 mx 6.50-8.00 1.00-1.50 2.80-3.30 N 0.09 mx 0.30-0.40 Ti 0.60 mx1.90-2.30 0.65-1.15 V 0.10-0.50 Al 0.60 mx 0.35 mx 0.35-0.80 B0.003-0.010 0.001-0.006 Co 1.00 mx Nb + Ta 4.75-5.50 Cu 0.75 mx0.50-1.50 0.15 mx Fe bal bal bal bal bal

While not intending to be limited, the compositions of the desiredalloys may be in the range, in weight percent, of >18%Ni, >14% Cr, from0.1 to 10% of at least one of Mo, Ti, V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta or Cu and thebalance Fe with incidental impurities allowed as well as other additionsthat do not detract from the desired properties. Specific examples ofsuitable alloys of the invention within the above range include AlloysA-D summarized in Table 1 and described below.

Alloy A may be described as including, by weight: 18-22% Ni; 18-22% Cr;0-0.75% Cu; 0-1% Si; 0-1% Mn; 0-0.6% Ti; 0-0.6% Al; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015%S; and the balance substantially Fe. As described above, Alloy A mayalso include other alloying additions so long as the resultant alloy hasmechanical properties consistent with manufacture and installation ofthe gasket and substantially full recovery of the gasket height andessentially full retained stress at temperatures up to about 1000° F. Asmay be seen in FIG. 4, the recovered height of Alloy A was slightlybelow 0.0025 inches over the surface of the gasket at temperatures up toabout 1000° F.; however, as may be seen from FIG. 1 and FIG. 4, thisperformance was better than either 301FH or 316Ti, and at highertemperatures, including temperatures exceeding about 1100° F., theperformance improvement was even greater. Thus, in view of the stabilityof the performance of Alloy A and the demonstrated improvement over theperformance of 301FH and 316Ti, Alloy A exhibits substantially fullfunctional recovery and essentially full retained stress at temperaturesup to about 1000° F. Alloy A is not believed to be a precipitationhardenable alloy, although some precipitation hardening may occur ifsubjected to a precipitation hardening heat treatment as describedherein. Thus, while not precluded, it is preferred that sheet materialsof Alloy A be processed as described herein by cold rolling to impartthe desired cold work without receiving a precipitation hardening heattreatment.

Alloy B may be described as including, by weight: 26-28% Ni; 20.5-23.0%Cr; 6.5-8% Mo; 0.5-1.5% Cu; 0-0.05% Si; 0-3% Mn; 0-0.020% C; 0-0.01% S;0-0.03% P; 0.3-0.4% N; and the balance substantially Fe. As describedabove, Alloy B may also include other alloying additions so long as theresultant alloy has mechanical properties consistent with manufactureand installation of the gasket and substantially full recovery of thegasket height and essentially full retained stress at temperatures up toabout 1000° F. As may be seen in FIG. 4, the recovered height of Alloy Bwas above .0025 inches over the surface of the gasket at temperatures upto about 1000° F. Thus, Alloy B exhibits full functional recovery andessentially full retained stress at temperatures up to about 1000° F.Alloy B is not believed to be a precipitation hardenable alloy, althoughsome precipitation hardening may occur if subjected to a precipitationhardening heat treatment as described herein. Thus, while not precluded,it is preferred that sheet materials of Alloy B be processed asdescribed herein by cold rolling to impart the desired cold work withoutreceiving a precipitation hardening heat treatment.

It is believed that Alloys A and B are representative of a number ofother non-precipitation hardenable iron-nickel-chromium alloys that maybe described generally as those having, by weight, >18%Ni, >14% Cr, from0.1 to 10% of at least one of Mo, Ti, V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta or Cu and thebalance Fe and incidental impurities, and more particularly as thosefalling within the constituent ranges of these alloys and having, byweight: 18-28% Ni; 18-23% Cr; 0-8% Mo; 0-1.5% Cu; 0-1% Si; 0-3% Mn;0-0.6% Ti; 0-0.6% Al; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.03% P; 0-0.4% N; andthe balance substantially Fe. It is believed that these alloys willexhibit at least substantially full functional recovery and essentiallyfull retained stress at temperatures up to about 1000° F. These alloysare generally not believed to be precipitation hardenable alloys,although some precipitation hardening may occur if subjected to aprecipitation hardening heat treatment as described herein. Thus, whilenot precluded, it is preferred that sheet materials of these alloys beprocessed as described herein by cold rolling to impart the desired coldwork without receiving a precipitation hardening heat treatment.

Alloy C may be described as including, by weight: 24-27% Ni; 13.5-16%Cr; 1-1.5% Mo; 0-1% Si; 0-2% Mn; 0-0.08% C; 1.9-2.3% Ti; 0.1-0.5 V;0-0.35% Al; 0.003-0.01% B; and the balance substantially Fe. Asdescribed above, Alloy C may also include other alloying additions solong as the resultant alloy has mechanical properties consistent withmanufacture and installation of the gasket and substantially fullrecovery of the gasket height and essentially full retained stress attemperatures up to about 1000° F. As may be seen in FIG. 4, therecovered height of Alloy C was substantially above .0025 inches overthe surface of the gasket at temperatures above 1000° F. Thus, Alloy Calso exhibits full functional recovery and essentially full retainedstress at temperatures up to about 1000° F. Alloy C is a precipitationhardenable alloy. Thus, while cold rolling alone is not precluded, it ispreferred that sheet materials of Alloy C be processed as describedherein by cold rolling to impart the desired cold work followed by anadditional precipitation hardening heat treatment as described hereinprior to the forming of embossments. This heat treatment imparts greaterstrength to these alloys and more than offsets any reduction of the coldwork and associated strength increase imparted by cold rolling, as suchalloys evidence a cold worked microstructure following the precipitationhardening heat treatment.

Alloy D is illustrated in FIG. 4 by Alloy D-1 and Alloy D-2 whichrepresented different heats of this material. Alloy D may be describedas including, by weight, 50-55% Ni; 17-21% Cr; 2.8-3.3% Mo; 0-0.15% Cu;0-0.35% Si; 0-0.35% Mn; 0.65-1.15% Ti; 0.35-0.8% Al; 0.001-0.006% B;0-1% Co; 4.75-5.5% of the sum of Nb or Ta; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S;0-0.015% P; and the balance substantially Fe,. As described above, AlloyD may also include other alloying additions so long as the resultantalloy has mechanical properties consistent with manufacture andinstallation of the gasket and substantially full functional recoveryand essentially full retained stress at temperatures up to about 1000°F. As may be seen in FIG. 4, the recovered height of Alloy D wassubstantially above .0025 inches over the surface of the gasket attemperatures up to about 1000° F. Thus, Alloy D also exhibits fullfunctional recovery and essentially full retained stress at temperaturesup to about 1000° F. Alloy D is a precipitation hardenable alloy. Thus,while cold rolling alone is not precluded, it is preferred that sheetmaterials of Alloy D be processed as described herein by cold rolling toimpart the desired cold work followed by an additional precipitationhardening heat treatment as described herein prior to the forming ofembossments.

It is believed that Alloys C and D are representative of a number ofother precipitation hardenable iron-nickel-chromium alloys that may bedescribed generally as those having, by weight, >18%Ni, >14% Cr, from0.1 to 10% of at least one of Mo, Ti, V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta or Cu and thebalance Fe and incidental impurities, and more particularly as thosefalling within the constituent ranges of these alloys and having, byweight: 24-55% Ni; 13.5-21% Cr; 1-3.3% Mo; 0-.15% Cu; 0-1% Si; 0-2% Mn;0.65-2.3% Ti; 0-0.8% Al; 0-.5% V; 0.001-0.01% B; 0-1% Co; 0-5.5% of thesum of Nb or Ta; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.015% P; and the balancesubstantially Fe. It is believed that these alloys will exhibit fullfunctional recovery and essentially full retained stress at temperaturesup to about 1000° F. These alloys are generally believed to beprecipitation hardenable alloys, although the effectiveness ofprecipitation hardening may vary over the range of alloy compositionsdescribed above. Thus, while cold rolling alone is not precluded, it ispreferred that sheet materials of Alloy D be processed as describedherein by cold rolling to impart the desired cold work followed by anadditional precipitation hardening heat treatment as described hereinprior to the forming of embossments.

FIG. 5 provides additional evidence of the full functional recoveryexhibited by iron-nickel-chromium alloy gaskets of the invention. Testspecimens of Alloys A-D as described above were subjected to ahigh-temperature, constant-load test where they were held at thetemperatures shown in a test fixture that was adapted to maintain aconstant load similar to the initial load of the fixture describedabove. Due to the constant load aspects, this is a more severe test ofthe recovery characteristics of the alloys of the invention than thatdescribed above and reported in FIG. 5. As may be seen, the alloys alsoexhibited full functional recovery and essentially full retained stressat temperatures up to about 1000° F. under the more severe testconditions.

The seal beads or embossments 18, as a result of the cold rolling andembossing, are work hardened which is evidenced by the directional grainstructure of the metal sheet beads as compared to the pre-cold rolledand embossed state of the material as illustrated generally in FIG. 6.While the microstructures of alloys of the invention may vary as to thedegree of cold work evidenced in the microstructure, such as by thosealloys that have been precipitation hardened following cold workingexhibiting less directional grain structure than those that are notprecipitation hardened. Nonetheless, alloys of the invention shouldexhibit microstructural evidence of residual cold work and a lack ofpost-embossment heat treating.

Once the beads 18 are formed, it is preferred that the at least onemetal layer 12 is not heat treated or further processed, butparticularly in a manner that would serve to further harden the beads18, such as by performing any additional precipitation hardening heattreatments. Regardless, any post-embossment heat treatment or otherprocessing of gasket 10 is performed under conditions so as to retain atleast a portion of the cold work or precipitation hardening or bothdescribed above, consistent with maintenance of the tensile strength,ductility and high temperature recovery performance described herein. Inother words, the beads 18 derive their final strength and hardness atthe time the beads are formed and nothing is done to alter them or tostrengthen them further once they are formed, including post-embossmentheat treating.

Referring to FIG. 7, embossed gaskets of the invention may be made by amethod including the steps of: forming an annealed sheet of aniron-nickel-chromium alloy; deforming the annealed sheet to form adeformed sheet having a deformed microstructure; and forming a gasketfrom the deformed sheet having a least one embossed sealing bead; theembossed sealing bead sealably operable with substantially fullfunctional recovery and essentially full retained stress in afully-clamped, sealed joint at a temperature up to about 1000° F. Themethod will of course include a step of forming a melt 100 of a suitableiron-nickel-chromium gasket material. The melt of the alloy will then beformed in an intermediate step by solidification into a slab bycontinuous casting or into a cast billet. The slab or billet will thenbe formed by a step of hot rolling 200 into one or more continuous rollsof the material. The hot rolled material will generally have a thicknessin a range of between about 0.18-0.25 inches. The hot rolled materialwill then generally be subjected to a step of descaling 300 to removeoxidation and other surface impurities resulting from hot rolling. Thedescaled material will then generally be subjected to a step of coldrolling 400 to an intermediate thickness so as to avoid over hardeningthe material and making it too brittle for subsequent gasket processing.This step is generally followed by a step comprising an intermediateanneal 500 to remove a significant portion of the cold work imparted bycold rolling 400. The cold rolling 400 and intermediate anneal 500 aregenerally repeated at least once to obtain the desired gauge or startingthickness of the gasket sheet material. Once the desired gauge isachieved, the sheet material of the invention is subjected to coldrolling 600 to the desired gasket thickness ,T. It is preferred that theamount of cold rolling 600 to T be about 10-70% reduction of originalthickness of the annealed starting material, and more preferable thatthe amount of cold roll reduction be about 30-40% reduction of theoriginal thickness. Accordingly, the step of deforming may include coldrolling 600 the annealed sheet to produce a cold-rolled microstructurehaving a degree of deformation that varies as a function of a percentageof cold reduction with the minimum and ranges described herein.

The method of the invention may optionally include a step of providing aprecipitation hardening heat treatment 700, such that microstructurewhich is deformed by cold rolling 600 is also precipitation hardened.The deformed and precipitation hardened microstructure has a hardnesswhich is greater than a hardness of said deformed microstructure for agiven alloy. Precipitation hardening heat treatment may be performed ata temperature of between about 1200-1350° F.

The cold rolled iron-nickel-chromium alloy material, or alternately thecold rolled and precipitation hardened alloy material, is then subjectedto the step of embossing 800 as described herein to form at least oneembossment.

The method of the invention may also optionally include a step of:coating 900 the gasket with a heat resistant gasket coating to produce acoated gasket. The gasket coating (not shown) may include chemicallyexfoliated vermiculite where at least 90 weight percent of thevermiculite has a thickness of less than or equal to 30 microns and nodimension is greater than 1 millimeter; a high temperature organic resinthat is heat resistant to at least 300 degrees Celsius; a supplementaryinorganic resin; and a flaky filler, as described in U.S. Pat. No.7,135,519. Surprisingly, this gasket coating material is also suitablefor use over the higher operating temperature range of gaskets 10 of theinvention.

The invention provides a sealing-enhancing coating for a gasket or aportion of a gasket, wherein the coating comprises flaky particles ofchemically exfoliated vermiculite, at least 90% by weight of saidparticles having a thickness of no more than 30 microns, and nodimension greater than 1 mm, the particles forming 10 to 90 wt % of thecoating, the coating also comprising 50 to 10 wt % of an organic polymerbinder which is heat resistant to at least 300° C.

For the present purposes an organic polymer binder is considered to beheat resistant to a particular temperature if, when the binder is formedinto a film 1 mm or less in thickness and heated to that temperature infree air for 24 hours, it either does not decompose or decomposesleaving a residue of at least 20% by weight of the film.

A coating of this type improves the sealing ability of embossed gasketswhich experience high temperatures in service up to about 1000° F., suchas exhaust gaskets for internal combustion engines. Preferably a coatingaccording to the invention has a thickness of less than 100 microns,more preferably less than 80 microns, and most preferably between 50 and75 microns.

Prior to embossing the sheet material exhibits a distinctive workhardened, cold rolled microstructure with an elongated grain orientationparallel to the cold rolling direction. The seal beads 18, as a resultof the additional step of embossing, are further work hardened and mayalso exhibit additional grain orientation associated with thedeformation resulting from the step of embossing the seal bead 18.Depending on the orientation of the embossment with reference to therolling direction, the microstructure of the seal bead may exhibitadditional grain orientation in the rolling direction or may exhibitorientation related to embossing in a direction other than the rollingdirection. In any case, seal beads 18 further will exhibit directionalgrain orientation or other evidence of increased deformation of thematerial as are well-known in the metallurgical arts as compared to thepre-cold rolled and embossed state of the material. Those materials thathave been given a precipitation hardening heat treatment following coldrolling may exhibit less directional grain structure, but nonethelessshould evidence a lack of post-embossment heat treating by virtue ofevidence of a deformed microstructure associated with the embossed sealbeads 18 as compared with the microstructure in other portions of gasket10.

Once the seal beads 18 are formed, the at least one metal layer 12 isnot heat treated or further processed in a manner that would serve tofurther harden the seal beads 18. In other words, the seal beads 18derive their final strength and hardness at the time the beads areformed and nothing is done to alter them to strengthen them further oncethey are formed, including post-embossment heat treating.

One advantage of the invention is that the improvement in recoveredgasket height will allow gaskets of the invention to utilize fewerlayers to provide the same sealing affect than metal gaskets made fromprior art metal gasket materials.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present inventionare possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to beunderstood that within the scope of any ultimately allowed appendedclaims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specificallydescribed.

We claim:
 1. A method of making an embossed metal gasket, comprising thesteps of: cold rolling a sheet of an iron-nickel-chromium alloy todevelop a deformed microstructure, a tensile strength of at least 1000MPa at room temperature, and an elongation of at least 5% at roomtemperature; the iron-nickel-chromium alloy comprising, by weight:24-55% Ni; 14-21% Cr; 1-3.3% Mo; 0-0.15% Cu; 0-1% Si; 0-2% Mn; 0.65-2.3%Ti; 0-0.8% Al; 0-0.5% V; 0.001-0.01% B; 0-1.0% Co; 4.75-5.5% of the sumof Nb or Ta; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.015% P; and the balancesubstantially Fe; and forming a gasket from the cold rolled sheet, thestep of forming the gasket including forming a least one embossedsealing bead.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said embossed sealingbead is sealably operable with substantially full retained stress in afully-clamped, sealed joint at an operating temperature up to about1000° F.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the deformed microstructureformed during the cold rolling step has a degree of deformation thatvaries as a function of a percentage of cold reduction.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein said percentage of cold reduction ranges from 10-70%.5. The method of claim 3, wherein said percentage of cold reductionranges from 30-40%.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the elongation ina rolling direction of the sheet developed during the cold rolling stepis about 6-25%.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the elongation in arolling direction is about 7-10%.
 8. The method of claim 1, wherein saidiron-nickel-chromium alloy further comprises at least one elementselected from the group consisting of V, Al, Co, Nb, Ta and Cu.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising a step of: providing aprecipitation hardening heat treatment after the cold rolling step todevelop a deformed and precipitation hardened microstructure, whereinsaid deformed and precipitation hardened microstructure has a hardnesswhich is greater than a hardness of said deformed microstructure formedduring the cold rolling step.
 10. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising a step of: coating said gasket with a heat resistant coating.11. The method of claim 10, wherein said heat resistant coatingcomprises: chemically exfoliated vermiculite wherein at least 90 weightpercent of the vermiculite has a thickness of less than or equal to 30microns and no dimension is greater than 1 millimeter; a hightemperature organic resin that is heat resistant to at least 300 degreesCelsius; a supplementary inorganic resin; and a flaky filler.
 12. Amethod of making an embossed metal gasket, comprising the steps of: coldrolling a sheet of an iron-nickel-chromium alloy to develop a deformedmicrostructure, a tensile strength of at least 1000 MPa at roomtemperature, and an elongation of at least 5% at room temperature;wherein said alloy comprises, by weight: 50.00-55.00% Ni; 17.00-21.00%Cr; 2.80-3.30% Mo; 0-0.15% Cu; 0-0.35% Si; 0-0.35% Mn; 0.65-1.15% i;0.35-0.80% Al; 0.001-0.006% B; 0-1.00% Co; 4.75-5.5% of the sum of Nb orTa; 0-0.08% C; 0-0.015% S; 0-0.015% P; and the balance substantially Fe;and forming a gasket from the cold rolled sheet, the step of forming thegasket including forming a least one embossed sealing bead.